Thats why i am sceptical of the airborne theory, one show could infect so many animals in such a short period of time, and then those animals would be returned home only to infect the breeders entire collection, just doesnt sreem very plausible. A snake can be infected and not necissarily die, i still don't know much about IBD but think of chicken pocks. It has a very different effect on the young then it does the old. And with any living organism immunity is lessened with age, this could be the case with boas.

Assuming that immunity "could" vary with age or even the conditions the animals are kept in... well, we have a very flimsy subject on our hands. If younger boas were more immune to IBD and you purchased a cb baby that had IBD, he might have some time before it actually kills him, let alone shows any symptoms, but some kind of accidental cross contamination of your 04 female might show symptoms in her in a matter of months. And even kill her before the symptoms in the baby even express themselves(all speculation of course, but still in a common sense kind of way).

Seems like the biggest problem is keepers that don't pay enough attention to husbandry, as well as the vets immediatly diagnosing any snake with motor skills/ defecation ect. as IBD positive when the same symptoms can be exhibited from neurological issues that can be cause by too much heat, too little heat, lack of food/water, as well as a number of other things. i also am curious to how many of these diagnosed snakes actually have IBD, rather then an owner that simply doesnt care well enough for their animals. Thats an important question, it could be alot less common then people think.

i could see alot of unexperiecned keepers buying heat pads from their locale pet shops as well as an animal from the same place that most likely isnt cared for well enough anyway and baking it to the point to where it "star gazes, flips over on its back, has problems striking, defecates, wheezes" i could also see this snake brought to the vet and put down immediatly after being incorrectly diagnosed with IBD.

And we've read from these forums before, we've all read the posts by that group of people that think their husbandry is good, when its cleary not, and they are sometimes too stubborn to be open minded to more professional advice. I beleive IBD is a good excuse for this group of people. Rather then excepting the fact that they took one too many shortcuts in providing the right conditions for the overall health of their snakes, they can simply point their finger at the disease. Then they become victums of the IBD as well as their animals, rather then their animals being victums of poor husbandry.

This could cause huge discrepncies on the population that was truly infected, to the population that was wrongly diagnosed.
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2.3 Bearded Dragons
1.0 Pastel Ball Pythons (NERD Line)
0.0.1 Water Monitors
1.1 Pastel Red Tailed boa Het. for Albino
1.1 Yellow Ackie Monitors
And Counting...

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